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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27846806">Following Orders</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentwashingcat/pseuds/agentwashingcat'>agentwashingcat</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, spoilers for most of volume 8!, they talk about Clover's death a little bit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:47:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>966</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27846806</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentwashingcat/pseuds/agentwashingcat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Marrow checks up on Winter while she's recovering from her fight with Cinder.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Marrow Amin &amp; Winter Schnee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Following Orders</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My personal headcanon is that Winter and Marrow were at Atlas Academy and on a team together so this fic sort of leans into that! They both need a friend so I gave them each other lol.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Marrow knocked on the door jam of Winters room, giving her a strained smile. “Hey. Want some company?” They’d all been given leave for the moment, though they could be called back at any time if the General needed them. Which Marrow was sure would be sooner rather than later.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Winter gestured at the chair next to her bed, reflecting his strained smile back at him. “Go ahead.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Despite himself, Marrow felt his tail wag a little. It was just… good to see she was doing okay. At least, better than she had been. He lowered himself into the chair, careful of his tail. “Sorry I couldn’t stop in earlier. How’re you feeling?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After they had… seen Clover, he’d wanted to visit her, but the General had summoned them immediately. It seemed their problems were never ending at the moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Winter shrugged, wincing slightly at the movement. “Tired. Sore. Frustrated.” Her left hand twisted in her blankets, the right making a similar motion yet unable to close properly. “Useless. I can’t do anything from a hospital bed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You need to recover,” Marrow reminded her. “You fought a maiden. That’s not exactly something anyone could live through.” It was like being back at the academy again, with Winter pushing herself to her limit and Marrow reminding her she needed to relax every once in a while. Not that she had ever really listened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And in the end it didn’t matter.” Winter scowled, staring down at her sheets. “Cinder still escaped. And… I don’t even have the Winter maiden powers to show for it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a moment, Marrow was quiet, debating whether to tell her what had happened. “Speaking of. Penny and some of the kids broke in. I don’t know why. They must have needed something but…” They probably wouldn’t have even known if Watts hadn’t been in the system at the time. Marrow suppressed a shudder. He didn’t trust that guy at all. Why the General was willing to use him, Marrow didn’t know.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was Weiss there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes. She seemed alright.” Winter seemed to relax a little. Well, that was something at least.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Winter? Do you think they’re right?” Marrow spoke softly, moving a little bit closer. He didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>think</span>
  </em>
  <span> the General would have bugged Winters’ room, but it was hard to tell these days what he would or wouldn’t do. “I mean, Salem is out there, but she isn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>doing</span>
  </em>
  <span> anything yet. Shouldn’t we be evacuating everyone we can from Mantle in the meantime?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knew James was terrified of Salem. Rightfully terrified, actually. Marrow would have been more concerned if he wasn’t. But now that his plan hadn’t panned out… shouldn’t they go back to evacuating everyone instead of leaving them to die? Should they have done that in the first place and then tried his plan? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Winter was silent, and Marrow worried he’d overstepped. There was a reason he had brought this up with Winter instead of Harriet; he’d thought she would understand. Harriet would have just bitten his head off. Possibly literally.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” Winter finally whispered, her normally steely gaze unsure when it finally met his. “I’ve always trusted James to make the right decisions. But what he did to Sleet, what he’s doing now to Mantle?” She paused for a moment. “I just don’t know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Marrow nodded. “So… what do we do now?” He knew what they were supposed to do. Follow orders, no matter what. But that rubbed him the wrong way. Shouldn’t they speak up if they thought something was wrong?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Winter bit her lip, looking stricken. “Marrow, what can we do? I don’t know anything but following orders.” She gave a hollow laugh. “I followed my fathers orders and then went right to following Ironwoods’ orders. No wonder my sister went to Beacon instead.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Marrow blinked. Winter didn’t usually open up like this, though he wasn’t about to complain. “I mean, you had options in between. You didn’t have to go into the military.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t I though?” Winters’ expression soured. “General Ironwood had me pegged for the specialist program within</span>
  <em>
    <span> a month</span>
  </em>
  <span> of me starting at the Academy. And for the next Winter maiden as soon as I proved my loyalty. I just went from one cage to the next, Marrow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Marrow reached out, placing a gentle hand on hers. Winter couldn’t really grasp it, but she did turn her hand slightly so they fit together better. “Well maybe it’s time to break out, then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I owe him everything. He-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t owe him anything, Winter. Whatever choices he made, they’re his. You can make your own, too.” It felt weird to assure Winter of that, when he was struggling with the very same thing. Perhaps it was time to listen to his own advice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Winter let out a sigh. “We both know that’s harder than it sounds.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah…” After a moments’ hesitation, Marrow spoke up again. “Winter? Do you think… do you think Qrow could have killed Clo- could have killed him?” It was hard to speak around the lump forming in his throat. They hadn’t had time to process yet, Marrow just kept pushing the pain away, trying to keep moving. To keep doing his job. He wasn’t sure how long he could keep doing that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” The swiftness of her answer surprised him. Winter looked a little surprised herself. “Qrow might be a gigantic pain in the ass, but he wouldn’t kill someone, not in cold blood. Not like that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Marrow nodded, taking a deep breath to steady himself. “I think… I think I have to go talk with Robyn, then.” Winters’ fingers twitched around his hand, and he gave it a slight squeeze. “Get some rest. You have a lot of healing to do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stay safe, Marrow. Be careful.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I will.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are always appreciated &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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